>
> Hi...
>
> Does anyone have any recommendations about the best breed of bees
> for a novice?  I've never kept bees before, but I bought a hive
> this winter and have it assembled, painted and waiting in my garage.
> I've been reading Gleanings, ABC-XYZ, and the Hive and the Honeybee.
> >From what I can tell, if I want a gentle race, I should probably
> go for Midnight or Ruckfast, right?
>
> I've talked to a couple of people in the local beekeepers association,
> and they suggested that I might want to buy an established hive from
> someone in the area.  I was kind of uncomfortable about this, since
> I wasn't sure if I would know what race I'd be getting.  I figured
> that it would be best to deal with someone advertising for the kind of
> bees that I want.  Am I worrying over nothing?
>
> Oh, I should probably mention that I live in central Ohio, in the middle
> of a rural area.  There're lots of woods, corn, soybeans, tomatoes,
> pasture, etc. growing nearby.  We also have a pond and a stream (the
> latter dried up during last years drought, but it's now flowing again).
>
Jeff:  I live out in the country about 10 miles from Lafayette,
IN.  From your description, I'd say we live in very similar
geography (farm country).  I started my first bee colony last
april (1991) and I went with Buckfast variety which I bought from
Weaver's Apiary in Navasota, TX.  I've been real pleased thus
far.  The bees are gentle and I actually harvested two supers
full of honey last fall (this really surprised me - everything I
had read led me to believe that there wouldn't be much surplus
honey during the first season).
 
Hope this helps.  Good luck!
====================================================================
Tom Fisher
[log in to unmask]      |  "...if by chance we find each
Phone (317) 494-6616          |  other, it is beautiful." - F. Perls